zekgb

This is the second time this wire has broken in the last week. The first time was in San Antonio on my drive back to California from Florida with our new to us 85 AT with 64k and a fresh WPTB job done in Jacksonville. The wire appears to have broken at the neck of the spade (Picture Here ) I assume that it's supposed to be a spade on the end of this wire, I have not undertaken the major surgery that removing the center cover entails to find out for sure (I would have thought I could at least see the spade end of the wire from the same angle that the picture was taken from. Jones Autowerks in San Antonio did not have the correct replacement part so resoldered the connector instead. I'm wondering what would have made the wire break in the first place and what I can do to prevent this from happening again once I get a proper replacement installed.

Also is there any way to get the center cover off enough to get at the sensor contact without removing the throttle and fan assemblies and all of the accessory belts? I've not seen a write up or pictures for this problem in the archives for an 85/86.

Thanks in advance,

Kevin

85 928s 64k Moss Green Metallic

Bill Ball

The wire should have a female spade connector on the end that attaches to a male spade on the tensioner arm. Can't quite see the spade on the tensioner arm in your picture, but you should be able to feel it. It might be misaligned so the wire is being cut. The spade is held on the arm by small Allen head screw. You can loosen the screw and change to orientation of the spade. You just need to remove the rightmost bolt in the the center cover so you can pull that edge of the cover forward to get a look at the tensioner arm and spade and get an Allen down in there. You might need to loosen a few other center cover bolts to get enough clearance, but only 1 needs to be removed. The screw can be quite tight.

zekgb

OK with the bottom right TB cover bolt off I can just get it back enough to see the female spade still attached to the connector. Unfortunately on my engine the top right cover bolt is hidden by the fan assembly. Doesn't appear that there is any way of getting to the allen bolt without removing the throttle and fan assemblies and all of the associated accessory belts. I need to wait until I get a new sensor wire anyway, will probably just leave it unbuttoned until it gets here.

Kind of a stupid question, but is there a trick to getting the plug end of the sensor wire off of the cover?

Garth S

Renove the M6 (10mm head) bolt holding the oil tube in place, and the plug comes off OK.
Grab some braided copper wire, female and O- ring crimp fittings and shrink tubing = DIY connector that will never breaK.